Two-wheeled parking on game day has free options

Orange Bowl Champions - A top 10 ranking - and plenty of BCS praise. All of that was then...and this is now. On Saturday, the 2008 Kansas football team hit the field with Florida International trying to improve upon a historic 2007 season.

Free bus shuttles aren't the only way to avoid parking fees in campus lots leading up to today's season-opening Kansas University football game at Memorial Stadium.

A number of free parking spaces are available for motorcycles on a first-come, first-served basis in a handful of parking zones on campus.

But there's a catch: The spaces involved - such as near the Computer Center, along Illinois Street just south of Sunnyside Avenue, and along Sunnyside Avenue, generally between Summerfield Hall and the Dole Human Development Center - are in areas where no other restrictions apply.

Several other lots closer to the stadium may have motorcycle spaces, but those spaces will be restricted for use by people who have qualified for them by virtue of donating money to Kansas Athletics Inc.

"If it's in a Williams Fund lot, the only way to get in is with a Williams Fund permit," said Donna Hultine, director of parking and transit.

Motorcyclists don't have to park in motorcycle spaces; they can be left in spaces normally used by regular cars and trucks, Hultine said, but, again, the key is to stay in open-to-the-public lots.

KU's newest tailgating-friendly lot - the park-and-ride lot across Naismith Drive from Allen Fieldhouse - also is open for motorcycles, she said. But that comes with a cost of $20 per space.

People headed to the game on scooters and bicycles also have no-cost options. All bike racks on campus are open for free parking, no permit required.

"Bicycles can park in any bicycle rack, no charge," Hultine said.

Scooters also can park for free at such racks on game days, she said.

¢ Shuttle update: Several people have called Hultine's office inquiring about how people using wheelchairs can catch a bus shuttle that runs to and from Memorial Stadium.

Such callers have been assured that lift vans will be available for use on both university-related shuttle services: the one running from lot 90, operated by parking and transit; and the one running from Lawrence's two municipal parking garages from downtown Lawrence.

Shuttle drivers on both routes will be able to call in a lift van as necessary, Hultine said.

Parking in reserved lots is $16.50 per stall per game, while it is $20 in the toll parking. www.parking.ku.edu/regs09_6.shtml Maybe an important question would be -- why are the donors paying less to park in the closer parking lots?